In the food service industry, a major cost in the installation of the facility is the distribution of utilities. In other words, a typical food preparing and serving installation would require utility distribution such as hot and cold water lines, steam lines, drains, gas lines, and electrical lines connected to some or all of the equipment used in the kitchen. The layout of the kitchen would dictate that certain of these utilities are brought to particular locations for servicing a particular piece of equipment. Utility distribution piping or wires most commonly are buried in the walls and the floors of the building until the same are adjacent the particular equipment that would be using the utility, and then are exposed the final few feet to the actual connection with the equipment. Since the installation of the distribution means for many of the utilities is performed by different building trades, total local on-site installation of the utilities is costly and frequently time consuming. Moreover, any relocation of the buried distribution means for the utilities is difficult and costly should it be desired to rearrange the equipment.
It is possible with a typical prearranged layout of such equipment, which might include ranges, deep fat fryers, ovens, cookers, dishwashers, mixers, refrigerators, freezers or the like, to provide also a prearranged layout for distribution of the utilities needed for such an installation. With the goal, prefabricated consoles have been made to carry utilities to the general vicinity of the equipment, where only two in-the-field connections for each such utility are needed; namely one from the source to the console and the other from the console to the equipment. However, the overall effectiveness of such known consoles has been lacking, particularly insofar as the handling, control, and safety of the electrical power.
Various patents which illustrate devices related to that which is disclosed herein are as follows: Carver U.S. Pat. No. 2,961,498 entitled PORTABLE PLUMBING AND ELECTRICAL UNIT FOR MULTIPLE INSTALLATION OF WASHING MACHINES; Nelson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,438 entitled MULTI-STATION SURFACE MOUNTING PLUMBING FIXTURES; Dybeck U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,723 entitled DISTRIBUTION PLANTS FOR THE SUPPLY OF POWER MEDIA; Meyer U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,349 entitled CONSOLE; and the Tindal U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,764 entitled BUILDING UTILITY AND SERVICE SYSTEM.